Vandals show good balance during mock game

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MOSCOW, Idaho – The steady progression of the Idaho Vandals continued as the team marched onward toward its season opener at North Texas next Saturday.

Once again, during Friday’s mock game, the offense showed balance, power and productivity, while coach Paul Petrino liked what he saw in the defense.

“We did some nice things today,” said Petrino after the offense put up more than 700 yards for the second time in a row. “It looked like we had some nice runs. We had some play action passes.

“Our defense ran and tackled a little bit better at times.”

The backs cranked up their productivity Friday with true freshman Richard Montgomery romping for 112 yards and senior James Baker going for 85 as the team tallied 315 on the ground to balance the collective 424 by the four quarterbacks.

Chad Chalich, a redshirt freshman from Coeur d’Alene, accounted for 325 of those off 17-of-20 passing and five touchdowns. Again, the quarterbacks spread the ball around with transfer Dezmon Epps catching four for 121 and senior tight end Michael LaGrone grabbing five for 61.

Junior Maxx Forde had eight total tackles – seven solo, with sophomore Ryan Edwards tallying two sacks.“It was good work,” Petrino said. “It was good work all the way around.”